Delightfully modern swimming: Midcentury pool still makes a splash

Delightfully modern swimming: Midcentury pool still makes a splash

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How did I miss this?
For years I’ve traveled down Chicago Avenue and never noticed the supremely cool Ida Crown Natatorium at Eckhart Park—or even its twin in Harrison Park at 18th and Wood. But thanks to a great essay on the two modernist Chicago Park District pool houses by Nate Lielasus on the Chicago Modern: More than Mies blog, my oversight has been corrected.
Built in 1961 for $625,00 at 1300 W. Chicago, the pool was named for the mother of Henry Crown, the Chicago industrialist whose empire included Material Service Corp., General Dynamics, a stake in the Empire State Building.
Here’s another photo of the Crown pool. I’ll make my way to Harrison Park soon.

The entire Chicago Modern blog is worthy reading. The blog—chock full of essays and photographs devoted to lesser-heralded modernist works and architects—is a joint effort by the Chicago office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Chicago, and DoCoMoMo_Midwest.